Calanthe 2012

[Peter Maguire]

Thanks Maren, they received some extra feeding last year so may have formed flower buds. They didn't however receive supersized portions as you described 

[Maren]

You'll just have to grow more calanthes.

[Jeff Hutchings]

Beat you to it Maren. I have the little plant and looking at the two photosand the plant it is named correctly. Nearly right Peter. I was commenting on how well some calanthe had grown which because of their position on a bench were receiving large amounts of water every day for three months. Phil, who was listening said he had seen them in areas just like the lake district. It is a pity the availablity is so limited in the UK. The majority come from one Japanese nursery. Try typing calanthe in on Youtube and cry.. The colour variations are fantastic but at a cost as in many areas there are now very few wild plants. Anything different has been dug up by enthusiasts for hybridizing.

The named hybrids (other than Takane) do not appear to be available now as they have been removed from the nursery wholesale lists.

Jeff

[ronm]

Has anyone tried this angle?

http://taiwanorchidgrowers.com/about/

[Maren]

Well, Jeff, there is a silver lining, then. With your culture it should increase and be able to be split in a short while. Please put me on the waiting list.

[Tony Willis]

Two calanthes in flower today

The first is

Calanthe tricarinata

The second I received as C. arcata but it seems to me to be another C. tricarinata but a nice one

[fredg]

Nice plant Tony.
I'm in the process of replacing the one I lost in the winter 2010/11

[SteveC2]

Takane and tricarinata opened in march but the buds on several of my other calanthes have sat doing nothing for weeks.  Now that it has actually stopped raining, (never thought I'd hear myself say that), they are opening.  Firstly a first flowering for fargesii, then a nice yellow striata.

[fredg]

|Nicely done Steve 

[reifuan]

happened to come across this thread, and as a Calanthe enthusiast, I couldn't help but put in my two-pence worth..

Steve, your C. fargesii is in fact Calanthe brevicornu, a species from china and the Himalayas; one of my favourites. I love it's delicious coconut scent. In my experience, it flowers and increases well in the garden, which cannot be said for all of the 'hardy' species.
It's frustrating how often Calanthes are mislabeled, especially plants originally imported from China.  Some Chinese exporters seem strangely fond of labeling unidentified calanthes as C. fargesii, while in fact I have never even seen a single photo of that plant in culture.
The list of Calanthes that I've seen mislabeled as C. fargesii includes:
C. brevicornu, graciliflora, hancockii, henryi, mannii, and also Phaius delavayi (syn.: Calanthe delavayi).

As for C. aristilufera, I bought one last year at the spring fair of the Dutch rock garden society. They came from a German nursery that now offers them as C. arisanensis. However, they were labeled C. izu-insularis at the time.
Grown outside, the plant seemed confused by our capricious weather (cool summer, warm autumn); instead of producing fat winter buds, it started growing underdeveloped leaves in October. Ultimately, it died during the severe frost of Feb. this year.

Asking a Calanthe expert, it seems that Japanese species like C. discolor, sieboldii, and especially aristulifera need hot summers to do well (in addition to lots of water and fertilizer).
I guess that explains why some of the Calanthes I've seen grown outside in our maritime climate, appear to be be in a state of 'terminal sulking'; putting up a few leaves each year, but never flowering or increasing.

[Maggi Young]

Hello reifuan, welcome to you -  Glad you found us!

[Maren]

Hi Reifuan,

welcome on board. Great to have another calanthe enthusiast on this forum. Would you mind casting your eye on page one of this thread and give an opinion about what we purchased as Calanthe arisanensis? There seem to be quite a few in the trade but none in botanical science

[reifuan]

thanks for the welcome, Maggi , Maren..
Maren, you said your search for the name on the label had no results on IPNI.
looking more closely at the photo, I see the label actually says 'Calanthe arasiensis' instead of 'arisanensis'..  this horrible misspelling is probably the reason your IPNI search yielded no results.. you might want to try it again

That aside, I believe the plant in question is in fact Calanthe aristulifera. The two species look similar (particularly in photos), but their differences are more apparent 'in the flesh', as arisanensis has clearly larger flowers. 
In photos, the most obvious difference is probably the spur (keen eye there, Maggi )
arisanensis has a shorter spur, especially in proportion to the longer pedicel (ovary), in arisanensis the spur is shorter than the pedicel, usually half as long or even shorter. Aristulifera has a spur that is usually longer than the pedicel. (which is clearly the case with Maren's plant.... )
Furthermore; aristulifera flowers often don't open as widely, and only quite shortly, with older flowers half closed, giving it its lily-of-the-valley appearance